I just saw The Fault in Our Stars yesterday. It is a very well made film about a very strong subject, juvenile cancer. It is set in Indianapolis in the present. John Green who authored the book on which the film is based, was born in Indianapolis, although his family moved to Florida soon after his birth. The film is being talked about as a possible Oscar contender and certainly brings a bit of honor to the Circle City. In 1997 the film Going All the Way starring Jeremy Davis and Ben Affleck was released. Based on Dan Wakefield’s best-selling novel, the story concerns two young men returning home after army service and takes place in Indianapolis of the 1950s. Some of exteriors of the movie were shot in Fountain Square and Broad Ripple. Dan Wakefield was born in Indianapolis in 1932 and grew up in Broad Ripple. He graduated from Shortridge High School and even worked for a time as a sports correspondent for the Star. Indiana and Indianapolis gets a lot of attention on the tube and screen, perhaps because we are located in the heart of the Heartland. Yet another Indianapolis native, Joseph Hayes, wrote a crime novel called The Desperate Hour in 1954. In 1955 Hayes wrote a Broadway play from his book and quickly wrote a screenplay from the play. In 1955 The Desperate Hours came to the motion picture screen and was directed by William Wyler. It starred Humphrey Bogart and Fredrick March. The story concerns three convicts who break out of prison and select a house on Kessler Blvd. to hole up in until they can arrange for their escape from Indiana.
Raintree County was a 1958 film based on the epic novel written by Bloomington Indiana’s Ross Lockridge Jr. Lockridge was an Indiana University graduate who taught English at the school. The novel is set in the mythical county of Raintree Indiana, which is a stand-in for Brown County. The film starred Montgomery Cliff, Elizabeth Taylor, and Eva Marie Saint. The story takes place before, during, and after the Civil War and the screenplay mentions Indiana politics and Cliff’s character going to Indianapolis to serve in the legislature. In 1957, the town of Madison Indiana played host to the film production of Some Came Running which starred Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, and Dean Martin. The location was Park, Indiana, a Hoosier town on the Ohio River, and a town very much like Madison itself. The story is about an army vet who returns to his hometown after 16 years with aspirations of becoming a writer and his inability to readjust to living in a small town. It’s a variation of the “you can’t go home again” theme. Many of the Madison townfolk served as extras in the filming and they still talk about it today. Madison hasn’t changed much from the time it was in the movie.
Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 film based on a novel by Vernon, Indiana’s Jessamyn West. The story concerns the Birdwell family, Quaker farmers who live near Vernon during the Civil War. When Morgan’s Raiders invade southeastern Indiana, each member of the family must decide how they will meet the challenge and still maintain their Christian principles. Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, and Tony Perkins were the stars. The Birdwells were the great-grandparents of Jessamyn West and her second cousin Richard Nixon. Much of the film was shot on the Birdwell Farm near Vernon which still stands. It’s one of my favorite movies. The Magnificent Ambersons was a 1942 Orsen Welles dramatization of the Booth Tarkington novel about a proud and affluent Indianapolis family at the beginning of the 20th century. As the automobile industry grows in Indianapolis, the Woodruff Place residents see their fortunes decline. Tarkington was Indianapolis’ most famous author and attended Shortridge High School and Purdue University, although he didn’t complete his degree. Welles claimed that his father and Tarkington were friends and some of the story is based on his family. Joseph Cotton, Anne Baxter, and Tim Holt were the stars. The Magnificent Amberson’s is considered by critics to be one of the 100 best American films ever made.
As I said, there have been some really great films made in Indiana and about Indiana. I didn’t include Hoosiers, Breaking Away, Eight Men Out, A League of Their Own. A History of Violence, Winning, A Girl Named Sooner, or Rudy. They are for another time. There are lots of others because it’s important to remember that Indiana has had a long relationship with the movies including Creeporia in which I portray Orson Welles. That is definitely another story.
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